My name is
Michael Hayes. I am
currently a junior at Valdosta
State University. I am majoring in Early Childhood
Education
because I think that working with children will be very
rewarding. I also think it will be exciting to encourage
creativity and help childern to discover the things they are good at
and develop skill in other areas that they may need extra help in
understanding.

Some of the things I have always enjoyed
have been
working with animals. Naturally, horses were one of the first
animals that I gravitated to and began to learn about. One of my
favorite magazines has been Western
Horseman for a long time. I
also worked for a time at the Latigo
Ranch, a family-oriented working
guest
ranch were I learned even more about horses. I also spent a
summer working at Melhana, the Grand Plantation in Thomasville, GA, working as a carriage
driver and taking care of the horses there.

I enjoy camping and spenting time in the great outdoors observing wild
animals and just enjoying the relaxing pace. I went on several
camping trips in the Arapaho National Forest at about 10,000 ft above sea level.
In the future I plan to go on more camping trips in the state parks in
our area.